God's Terrorists [Paperback] [Jan 01, 2007] CHARLES ALLEN - Softcover

Allen, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349118795 ISBN 13: 9780349118796

Publisher: Abacus, 2007

Synopsis

The brutal assasination of commissioner frederick mackeson on british indias north-west frontier in 1853 was a bloody and public declaration of a conflict that was to stretch well into the next one hundred and fifty years the wahhabi tribe, extreme islamist fundamentalists, set out to restore purity to their faith by declaring violent jihad on all who opposed them their history has long been forgotten and yet their vicious brand of political ideology lives on the wahhabi deeply influenced not only the formation of modern saudi arabia, but osama bin laden and the taliban their teachings educate orphan boys in afghanistan and press rifles into their hands, for the sake of jihad the parallels between this pivotal terrorist network and our post-9/11 political climate are staggering charles allen sheds lights on the historical roots of modern terrorism and shows how this dangerous nineteenth-century theology lives on today

About this title

About the Author

Charles Allen is one of the most celebrated travel writers and historians of his generation.

From Publishers Weekly

British author Allen (Soldier Sahibs) argues persuasively that violent Islamic extremism isn't as new as we might think, but unfortunately, his book doesn't do much to explain the phenomenon. Carefully drawing distinctions between mainstream Islam and the fanaticism that spawned al-Qaeda (which he calls "as much a threat to Islam as to the West"), Allen goes back to the 18th-century founding of Wahhabism, a strain of Islam fostered in the Arabian desert that now serves as the Saudi state religion. Fixated on removing any hint of deviation from their interpretation of Muhammad's teachings, violent Wahhabists have traditionally killed more Muslims than non-Muslims. A Central Asia expert, Allen focuses on the form of Wahhabism that developed against the backdrop of waning British imperialism in that area, gradually leading up to Osama bin Laden's arrival. But his rapid-fire account is littered with names and battles, explaining little about how an ideology always rejected by most Muslims, and whose proponents were nearly annihilated on many occasions, managed to survive so spectacularly. Nor does he explain why Wahhabists' anger has shifted from supposed infidels in their midst to citizens of the West. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abacus
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0349118795
• ISBN 13: 9780349118796
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384